Ioannis Bourousis

Professional career

Bourousis began his professional career in 2001 with AEK Athens of the Greek Basketball League. In 2006, he transferred to FC Barcelona of the Spanish ACB League, then later that same year joined the Greek EuroLeague club Olympiacos Piraeus. In 2009, the San Antonio Spurs offered him a 3-year, $12 million contract, but he turned it down and instead signed a 3-year extension with Olympiacos worth €5.1 million net income, which included a €1 million buyout clause usable only for an NBA team.

After five seasons, Olympiacos terminated his contract. In the summer of 2011, weeks before signing with Olimpia Milano, a doping-related media controversy emerged in Greece, tied to an unrelated football match-fixing probe of his future father-in-law, Charilaos Psomiadis. Bourousis was quickly cleared after submitting to drug testing under FIBA protocols, overseen by the World Anti-Doping Agency, allowing him to play for Greece at the 2011 FIBA EuroBasket.

On July 6, 2011, he agreed to a two-year contract with Olimpia Milano of the Italian A League. In July 2013, he signed with Real Madrid of the Spanish League. With Real Madrid, he won the Spanish Supercup in 2013 and the Spanish King's Cup in 2014. The club picked up its team option to keep him for the 2014–15 season.

That season, Bourousis won the EuroLeague championship after Real Madrid defeated his former team Olympiacos 78–59 at the 2015 EuroLeague Final Four. Real Madrid also won the 2014–15 Spanish League championship with a 3–0 series sweep over Barcelona in the ACB Finals, giving the club the Triple Crown. In September 2015, he signed with Saski Baskonia of the Spanish ACB. On December 30, 2015, he was named Spanish League Player of the Month after being MVP of the week three times in the first half of the 2015–16 season.

He repeated as Player of the Month in January 2016, averaging 18.5 points and 7 rebounds per game, including 24 points in a win against Real Madrid. On May 23, 2016, he was named Spanish League MVP for the 2015–16 season, averaging 12.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 0.9 steals per game. On July 12, 2016, he signed a two-year contract with Panathinaikos Athens. On July 4, 2017, Panathinaikos announced the termination of his contract.

On July 10, 2017, he signed with the Zhejiang Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association. Bourousis spent the 2020–21 season with Peristeri Athens of the Greek Basketball League, averaging 6.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game. On September 28, 2021, he signed with ASK Karditsa of the Greek 2nd Division, playing there during the 2021–22 season before retiring from professional club basketball.

National team career

Bourousis was a member of the Greek Under-20 junior national team that won the gold medal at the 2002 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship in Lithuania. He was on the senior Greek national team that won the gold medal at the 2005 FIBA EuroBasket in Serbia, and he played an instrumental role as Greece won the bronze medal at the 2009 FIBA EuroBasket. He was also a member of the Greek national teams that finished fourth at the 2007 FIBA EuroBasket and fifth at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

During an international friendly game between Greece and Serbia at the 2010 Acropolis Tournament, Serbian player Nenad Krstić hit Bourousis on the head with a chair. Krstić said the next day, 'I thought he was a fan attacking me.' Bourousis initially pressed charges and decided to sue but quickly changed his mind and dropped the charges and lawsuit. Bourousis also competed with the Greek senior national team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, the 2011 FIBA EuroBasket, the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the 2013 FIBA EuroBasket, the 2014 FIBA World Cup, the 2015 FIBA EuroBasket, the 2016 Turin FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the 2017 FIBA EuroBasket, and the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers.

Did You Know?

• Bourousis originally trained to be a professional swimmer but grew too tall for the sport and took up basketball at age 18.
• The indoor basketball arena Giannis Bourousis Karditsa New Indoor Arena in Karditsa, Greece, is named after him.